Mine roof supports

ABSTRACT

The invention is for a mine roof support including a base, hydraulic prop means mounted on said base, a roof engaging member mounted on said prop means and a side shield for preventing mined mineral flushing into the support. In one preferred embodiment there is a side shield at each side of the support and each such side shield comprises a plate extending up from the base of the support and a plate hanging down from the roof engaging member, the two plates overlapping so as to maintain continuity of the side shield at all times but without interferring with extension and retraction of the props. Inasmuch as the side shield or shields obstruct the passage of miners through the support, in the normal way, the support includes means providing a walkway for miners, under the roof engaging member of the support, forward of the side shield or shields. The support may also include a rear shield for preventing mined mineral flushing into the support through the rear thereof. The side shield or shields and said rear shield may constitute an integral structure or structures.

United States Patent [191 Allen et al.

[ 1 Nov. 19, 1974 MINE ROOF SUPPORTS [75] Inventors: Archelaius Dawson Allen, Preston;

Fred Small, Lathom, both of England [73] Assignee: Gullick Dobson Limited, Ince,

Wigan, England [22] Filed: Mar. 16, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 342,304

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 24, 1972 Great Britain 13972/72 [52] US. Cl 61/45 D [51] Int. Cl E2ld 15/44, E21d 23/00 [58] Field of Search 61/45 D; 299/31, 33; 91/170 MP; 248/357 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,686,874 8/1972 Bell 61/45 D 3,483,705 12/1969 Roberts 61/45 D 3,488,966 1/1970 Cotterill 61/45 D 3,548,601 12/1970 McLuckie 61/45 D 3,570,255 3/1971 Shuttleworth..... 61/45 D 3,618,325 11/1971 Kuhn et a1. 61/45 D Primary Examiner-Dennis L. Taylor Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Berman, Bishoff & Platt [5 7] ABSTRACT The invention is for a mine roof support including a base, hydraulic prop means mounted on said base, a roof engaging member mounted on said prop means and a side shield for preventing mined mineral flushing into the support.

In one preferred embodiment there is a side shield at each side of the support and each such side shield comprises a plate extending up from the base of the support and a plate hanging down from the roof engaging member, the two plates overlapping so as to maintain continuity of the side shield at all times but without interferring with extension and retraction of the props. Inasmuch as the side shield or shields obstruct the passage of miners through the support, in the normal way, the support includes means providing a walkway for miners, under the roof engaging member of the support, forward of the side shield or shields. The support may also include a rear shield for preventing mined mineral flushing into the support through the rear thereof. The side shield or shields and said rear shield may constitute an integral w structure or structures.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures MINE ROOF SUPPORTS This invention is for improvements in or relating to self-advancing mine roof supports.

The invention is particularly, but not exclusively, concerned with roof supports for use in a shortwall system of mining in which a mining machine removes a substantial web of mineral from the mineral face as it travels or moves therealong. The thickness of the web may, for example, be of the order of feet. This thickness of the web of mineral removed, each time the machine travels along the face, means that the roof sup ports have to be advanced with respect to one another, by a substantial distance, e.g. in stepped distances of the order of 5 feet as the removal of the mineral by the machine proceeds. As a result it is necessary to provide the sides of the supports with anti-flushing shields to prevent mineral flushing or cascading into the supports, through the sides thereof, when one is advanced relatively to another. This creates a problem in providing a walkway which would conventionally be through the supports and between the rows of props associated therewith. An object of the present invention is to overcome this problem.

According to the present invention there is provided a mine roof support including a base, hydraulic prop means mounted on said base, a roof-engaging member mounted on said prop means, a side shield for the support comprising a side shield member extending up from said base, and a side shield member extending down from said roof engaging member, said side shield members overlapping to maintain continuity of the side shield during extension of the props to put the support in a roof supporting condition, and means providing a walkway for miners under the roof engaging member of the support forward of said side shield.

According to a further feature of the present invention there is provided a mine roof support comprising a floor engaging member, a roof engaging member, at least one front and one rear extensible prop therebetween, an advancing means for the support adapted to be attached to an anchorage, an extensible rear shield and a shield at at least one side of the support, the length of said side shield being not less than the maximum travel of the advancing means, the arrangement being such that a walkway is provided between said anchorage and said front prop.

Conveniently the rear shield and/or the side shield is or are extensible between the floor engaging member and the roof engaging member and extend from the top to the bottom of the support or thereabouts.

Preferably the base projects forwardly to provide said walkway. Alternatively a part of the advancing means may project forwardly of the support to provide said walkway.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention the side shield projects up to or beyond the foremost prop or props. The side shield may comprise two side walls one at each side of the support.

In one construction the rear shield and the side shield or shields are of telescopic form.

The rear shield and the side shield or shields may constitute an integral structure or structures.

The roof engaging member may comprise a canopy, a cantilever roof engaging bar pivotally connected to said canopy and an extension bar slidable in or on said cantilever bar, the permissible extension of said extension bar being not greater than the maximum stroke of the advancing means. Conveniently the pivotal connection of the cantilever extension bar to the canopy is positioned above the walkway. A pressure fluid ram may I act on the cantilever roof engaging bar to apply it to the roof.

The anchorage may be a rail, conveyor or the like, which extends along the face, and to which a hydraulic ram, incorporated in the support, may be anchored for the advance of the support in the well known way. In one arrangement a double-acting ram incorporated in each support first advances a section of the rail which is then held by neighbouring supports so that it serves as an anchorage for the advance of said support by the retraction of the ram. By this arrangement the support may be advanced in two stages of, say, 5 feet.

The rail may also serve as a guide means or track for the mineral mining machine.

The invention will be further described, by way of example, as applied to a shortwall mining roof support arrangement. In the following description reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of one of the several roof supports used in the arrangement,

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the support shown in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the roof support arrangement.

Referring first to FIG. 3 of the drawing the reference numeral 10 indicates the mineral face from which a web of material is removed by the mining machine 11.

A plurality of self-advancing roof supports 12 are arranged along the face in side-by-side relationship and are advanced behind the machine 11 as it moves along the face.

Each'of the roof supports (see FIGS. 1 and 2) comprises a base 13 having mounted on it a pair of front hydraulically extensible props 14 and a pair of rear hydraulically extensible props 15. These props support on their upper parts a canopy 16. A cantilever roofengaging member 17 is pivotally connected to the canopy at 18. The cantilever roof engaging member 17 has slidably supported in it an extension bar 19 for supporting the forward area of the roof adjacent the face.

At its rear the support is provided with antiflushing shields 20, 21 and 22 which extend from top to bottom of the support, the shield 22 being of I-section and being in three parts, spaced along the width of the canopy 16, to absorb the initial and greater impact encountered in caving than is experienced by the side plates 23.

For the purpose of the present invention the support is also provided with anti-flushing side shields which extend substantially from the top to bottom of the support. These side shields comprising upper and lower plates 23 and 24 which overlap, the upper plate 23 being hingedly suspended from the canopy 16. The side shields prevent mineral flushing into the sides of a support when it is advanced relatively to one of its neighbouring supports as shown in FIG. 3.

It will be appreciated that the normal walkway, for miners, between the front legs or props l4 and the rear legs or props 15 is obstructed by the plates 23 and 24. To overcome this problem and provide a walkway for miners the base 13 of the support may be extended forwardly so as to provide a walkway at W.

The manner in which the side shield plates 23 and 24 overlap ensures that they will maintain a complete side shield, from top to bottom of the support, without interferring with the raising and lowering of the canopy 16, from which the plate 23 is hung, in the normal way.

A double-acting support advancing ram (not shown) is housed in the box-section beam 25 which is incorporated in the base 13 of the support. At its forward end said ram is provided with means 26, which is guided in beam 25, for connecting it to a section of rail 27 which extends along the mineral face, the sections of rail of the several roof supports being hinged or pivoted together on a vertical axis. This rail serves as an anchorage for advancing each support, in the well known way, and also as a guide or path defining means for the mineral mining machine 11.

The rail 27 may be snaked or advanced towards the mineral face in sections, by extending the advancing rams of the supports. The rams are then ready to be retracted so as subsequently to draw the supports up to the rail. It will be appreciated that when one support is being advanced it is temporarily released from between floor and roof and the rail 27 will be held firmly by its neighbouring supports. To provide roof support close up to the face the roof extension bars 19 of the supports are advanced as shown at the left hand side of FIG. 3.

Conveyor means is, of course, provided for carrying away the mineral as it is removed from the face by the mining machine.

A pressure fluid ram 28 may be provided for applying the bar 17 to the roof.

We claim:

1. A mine roof support comprising a base structure,

hydraulic prop means including foremost and rearmost props mounted on said base structure, said base structure being extended forwardly of all said prop means to provide a walkway for miners, a roof-engaging canopy mounted on said prop means for application thereby to a roof to be supported, a cantilever roof-engaging member pivotally attached to and projecting forwardly from said canopy and over said walkway, a lower sideshield plate extending up from and secured to the base structure along the side thereof and closing the space between said foremost and rearmost props for a part of the height thereof, an upper side-shield plate hingedly attached to said canopy along the side thereof and depending therefrom and overlapping said lower side shield plate for substantially the full length thereof so as to close the remaining space between said foremost and rearmost props, an extensible shield closing the support at the rear of all said prop means, whereby the flushing of mineral into the support at the sides and rear thereof is prevented, and a pressure-fluid ram means acting between said canopy and said cantilever roof-engaging member to apply the latter to a roof to be supported whereby said walkway is clear of obstruction by prop means, mounted on said base structure, for supporting said cantilever roof-engaging member.

2. A mine roof support as claimed in claim 1 wherein included in the base structure of the support there is a self-advancing means for the support and a part of said self-advancing means projects forwardly of all said prop means so as to provide said walkway.

3. A mine roof support as claimed in claim 1 wherein the lower side-shield plate and the upper side-shield plate make sliding contact one with the other. 

1. A mine roof support comprising a base structure, hydraulic prop means including foremost and rearmost props mounted on said base structure, said base structure being extended forwardly of all said prop means to provide a walkway for miners, a roofengaging canopy mounted on said prop means for application thereby to a roof to be supported, a cantilever roof-engaging member pivotally attached to and projecting forwardly from said canopy and over said walkway, a lower side-shield plate extending up from and secured to the base structure along the side thereof and closing the space between said foremost and rearmost props for a part of the height thereof, an upper side-shield plate hingedly attached to said canopy along the side thereof and depending therefrom and overlapping said lower side shield plate for substantially the full length thereof so as to close the remaining space between said foremost and rearmost props, an extensible shield closing the support at the rear of all said prop means, whereby the flushing of mineral into the support at the sides and rear thereof is prevented, and a pressure-fluid ram means acting between said canopy and said cantilever roofengaging member to apply the latter to a roof to be supported whereby said walkway is clear of obstruction by prop means, mounted on said base structure, for supporting said cantilever roof-engaging member.
 2. A mine roof support as claimed in claim 1 wherein included in the base structure of the support there is a self-advancing means for the support and a part of said self-advancing means projects forwardly of all said prop means so as to provide said walkway.
 3. A mine roof support as claimed in claim 1 wherein the lower side-shield plate and the upper side-shield plate make sliding contact one with the other. 